1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for determining the quality of a smoke by virtue of light transmission and usable for determining the concentration, components, etc. of various exhaust smokes from diesel engines or gas turbines, for example, for regulating the concentration of the smoke, and for conducting a study on the lowering of the smoke concentration, for example, and to an apparatus for working the method.
2. Prior Art Statement
In recent years, the contamination of the environment has posed a serious social issue. The various exhaust smokes from diesel engines, gas turbines, Stirling engines, etc. are such that the concentrations and content ratios of their particulate substances vary when the conditions of the release of the exhaust smokes are varied.
As one means of determining the concentration of a smoke, the conventional light-transmission type smoke meter may be cited.
This conventional light-transmission type smoke tester is provided with a light source and a light receiving device opposed to each other as a pair across the path of a sample smoke and adapted to effect determination of a smoke concentration in the path of sample smoke by causing the path of light from the light source to the light receiving device to intersect the path of sample smoke and measuring the attenuation of the light in transmission due to the intervention of the sample smoke in the path of light.
This smoke tester has the merit of enabling continuous determination of smoke concentration on a realtime basis.
The particulate substances in the exhaust smoke include a solid dry soot component and a liquid SOF (soluble organic fraction) component. The dry soot component consists mainly of carbon and assumes a black color and the sof component consists of unburned fuel and lubricant and assumes a whitish translucent state.
The attenuation of the light in transmission, therefore, is affected in a large measure by the ratio of the concentration of the dry soot component and the concentration of the SOF component. Even where the exhaust smoke has a small dry soot component and the attenuation of the light in transmission is accordingly small proportionately, the exhaust smoke may possibly have a large SOF component. For the concentration of the particulate substance in the exhaust smoke to be accurately determined, therefore, it is necessary that the contents of the dry soot component and the SOF component in the exhaust smoke should be measured independently of each other.
This invention, intended to remedy the shortcomings of the prior art described above, aims to provide a method for the determination of the concentration of an exhaust smoke, which method is capable of allowing a smoke meter to effect continuous and accurate real-time detection of the concentration of the dry soot component and the SOF component contained in the exhaust smoke and an apparatus for working this method.